In this groundbreaking report on online freedom around the world, 12 countries are catagorised as “Enemies of the Internet” – Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

While there is little doubt Commissar Conroy will be examining these countries in greater detail, trying to adapt their models to Australia, for now Australia is placed in the highly disturbing second category of countries on the cusp.

Australia is now in exactly the same category as: Bahrain, Belarus, Eritrea, Malaysia, S. Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Yay. What great company!

Also, I’m at it, can people please stop writing blog posts that Xenophon voting against this bill makes one iota of difference? It doesn’t. This is a cheap publicity stunt on his part that people have gotten sucked into.

Xenophon’s vote is only be relevant in a scenario where the Coalition votes against the legislation, and the Greens and Senator Fielding vote for it. As the Greens have publicly stated they are voting against the legislation, this is not the case and Xenophon’s vote is utterly irrelevant. It’s called maths.

So let’s focus on a) ensuring the Coalition doesn’t compromise and b)that Labor doesn’t sneak it in through regulation as opposed to legislation. Mkay?

In the midst of all the hooplah generated by Commissar Conroy’s Communist Censorship Crusade, I thought it useful to remind people of the scientific data which has examined the relationship between online access and pornography viewing, and instances of sexual assault.

Via Reason who also note that “Just about every social indicator that one might anticipate being affected by the mainstreaming of porn (divorce and abortion rates, sex crimes, sex crimes against children, teen pregnancy, etc.) has for about 15 years generally been moving in a positive direction. That of course would be the very period during which pornography became widely available on the Internet.”

Senator Minchin had a great op-ed about Rudd’s plans to slow down our internet and institute Orwellian Regulatory Standards in today’s Sydney Morning Herald:

Big Brother Internet Filter Plan Insults Parents

Underlying the Rudd Government’s plan to screen the internet is an offensive message: that parents cannot be trusted to mind their children online.

Adult supervision should be front and centre of the effort to improve online safety, a responsibility accepted by most parents, grandparents, teachers and carers. But the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, seems to think differently: filtering content at internet service provider level is “central to the Government’s plan to make the internet a safer place for children”.

No decent Australian would argue against the broad aim of making the online world as safe as possible. But Labor’s fixation with compulsory, centralised filtering – which tells parents they are incapable of protecting their children – is not the answer.

He also notes that “Senator Conroy has remained cryptic and vague, raising suspicion by talking about filtering not just illegal material, but also “unwanted” content that he refuses to specify.”